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Manufacturing & intralogistics

Real-time location for manufacturing: find work in progress without searching

Noccela tracks pallets, carriers, tools and forklifts with accuracy up to 10 cm, and turns their positions into work orders, andon calls and flow data for your MES, ERP or WMS.

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Noccela Andon Button, a white wireless call button

Where time goes on a factory floor

Three problems we hear in almost every plant, from sawmills to assembly lines.

  1. Time lost searching

    Forklift drivers and operators look for the pallet, bundle or fixture that a work order asks for, especially after stock has been moved between shifts.

  2. Work in progress nobody can see

    Counts and locations of semi-finished goods live in spreadsheets or in people’s heads, so supply to machines comes late or too early and the floor fills up.

  3. Paper and manual updates

    Work orders, andon calls and stock moves are recorded by hand, if at all. Nobody can say how long a flow really takes or where it waits.

What you can do with precise location

Every capability runs on the same base stations (UWB anchors), tags and Location Intelligence Platform. Start with one and add the others on the same infrastructure.

Work-in-progress and tool tracking

Tag pallets, carriers, bins, fixtures and tools. See them on a live map, with counts per area and the history of every move.

Location-verified work orders

Link item data to the tag ID, so a paperless work order shows the driver where the right pallet is, and a move is registered when the item reaches its destination zone.

Digital andon

Andon Buttons send each call with their own location, and a Signalling Flash or a dashboard shows the status. Move a button to another workstation without reconfiguring it.

FIFO and dwell time

Dwell time per pallet and per area shows which stock should be used first and which has waited too long.

Forklift and AGV dispatch

Positions of forklifts and other vehicles let you send the nearest free one and measure utilisation, including time driven without a load. Automated vehicles keep their own safety-rated sensors.

Heatmaps and flow analytics

Routes and heatmaps show congestion, busy crossings and the real path of material through the plant, as a basis for layout changes.

How much accuracy does each job need?

More accuracy means more base stations. Set the density per area to what each job needs, instead of paying for centimetres everywhere.

Accuracy classes and the manufacturing jobs they serve
AccuracyQuestion it answersTypical uses
A few metres (zone) Is the pallet in the buffer or at the machine?Stock counts per area, WIP buffers, dwell time
Sub-metre Which bay, lane or forklift?Floor storage slots, work-order guidance, forklift utilisation
Up to 10 cm Up to 10 cm with Noccela Which fixture, which side of the line, which level of the stack?Tools and fixtures at workstations, stacked items, crossing points

Noccela covers all three classes with the same hardware. Read more in UWB accuracy and range explained.

How it works: material flow from goods-in to the cell

A typical flow in a plant with a main warehouse, an intermediate store and production cells.

  1. Goods arrive

    Incoming material gets a tag at the main warehouse, and the tag ID is linked to the item data in your ERP or MES.

  2. Stored and called off

    Stock is counted by area. When a work order calls for material, the driver sees where the right pallet is.

  3. Delivered to the cell

    The nearest free forklift or automated vehicle takes it to the production cell, and arrival is registered by location.

  4. Processed and returned

    Finished items go back to storage. Dwell times and routes feed FIFO, utilisation and layout decisions.

How the system works, from tag to dashboard

Products for manufacturing

Indoor base stations, tags for carriers and vehicles, and call and signal devices for the line.

Noccela Beacon 3 base station in black and white with its mounting plate

Beacon 3

Compact PoE base station for indoor sites, installed like a security camera.

Details
Noccela Smart Tag, a small black asset tag

Smart Tag

Small asset tag for tools, carts, pallets and equipment.

Details
Noccela Industrial Tag with a transparent IP65 housing and magnetic feet

Industrial Tag

IP65 tag for vehicles, machines and harsh conditions.

Details
Noccela Andon Button, a white wireless call button

Andon Button

Wireless call button that sends its own location with every call.

Details
Noccela Signalling Flash controller box with a red signal light

Signalling Flash

Location-triggered light and tone for zone warnings and andon status.

Details

On-premise server

Run the positioning engine and the platform inside your own network when data must stay on site.
Details

Case study

Koskisen: WIP visibility on a 25,000 m² floor

Koskisen, with DNA and Nortal, tracks wood-panel pallets and the forklifts that move them. Item data linked to each pallet's tag lets paperless work orders show where the right pallet is.

Koskisen · Wood processing

Work-in-progress visibility across a 25,000 m² wood-processing floor

Finland · With DNA, Nortal

Floor area
25,000 m²
Base stations
160
Accuracy requirement
0.5–3 m
Tracked
Pallets and forklifts
Read the case study
Floor plan of the Koskisen factory with a colour-coded overlay showing radio quality across the production hall
Radio-quality visualisation used to tune base-station density area by area at Koskisen.

Connect location to your MES, ERP and WMS

Positions and events are available through open APIs, so they can drive the systems you already run.

Real-time stream

Live positions and tag states over a WebSocket connection, for dashboards and control-room views.
Real-time API

Events and webhooks

A tag enters or leaves an area, an andon call is made: events are pushed to your system as they happen.
Push API

HTTP API and SDK

Query sites, tags and history, and build integrations faster with the JavaScript and TypeScript SDK.
HTTP API

Frequently asked questions

What accuracy does a factory need?
It depends on the job. Area counts and buffers work with a few metres, guiding a driver to the right pallet needs sub-metre accuracy, and tools at a workstation need decimetres. Noccela's accuracy is up to 10 cm, and base-station density can be set per area: the Koskisen project needed 0.5–3 m across 25,000 m².
How many base stations do we need?
Each base station covers up to 500 m² per base station in open areas. Racks, machinery and higher accuracy targets need more. Koskisen's 25,000 m² floor used 160 base stations. The base station estimator gives a first figure for your floor area.
Does UWB work in metal-heavy production halls?
Yes. UWB measures the travel time of very short radio pulses rather than signal strength, so it copes with steel structures and machinery better than Bluetooth or Wi-Fi positioning. Dense machinery still affects radio coverage, which is why we plan base-station density area by area.
How is the system installed?
Base stations mount on a ceiling bracket or threaded bar and take power and data over one Ethernet cable (PoE). You measure the positions of two base stations; the rest calibrate themselves. Cabling is usually the most time-consuming part of an installation.
How do tags attach, and how long do the batteries last?
Smart Tags attach with a pin, wire, magnet or double-sided tape; Industrial Tags with magnets, screws or tape. Tags sleep when the item is not moving, and battery life is typically several years, depending on utilisation and update rate.
Can the data go into our MES, ERP or WMS?
Yes, through open APIs: a real-time stream, an HTTP API and webhooks for events such as a tag entering an area. Your integrator or our engineers can build the connector. See the developer hub.
Does it run in the cloud or on our premises?
Both. The Location Intelligence Platform runs as a cloud service or on an on-premise server inside your own network. Base stations need no public IP address, no static IP and no access to your private network.
Can we start small?
Yes. A pilot on one production area or one flow shows what the data looks like on your own floor before you decide on a wider roll-out.

See how it would work on your floor

Send us a floor plan and tell us what you want to track. We will show you how it would work, and what it takes.

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